Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 1.8% – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was down 1.8% on Wednesday. The company traded as low as $393.49 and last traded at $394.49. 4,383,367 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily volume of 8,067,378 shares. The stock had previously closed at $401.70.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Capital One Financial increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. New Street Research set a $415.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $410.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $390.00 price target (up from $371.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $299.56 billion, a PE ratio of 717.41, a PEG ratio of 11.31 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $372.15 and its 200-day moving average is $269.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total value of $158,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 77,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,859,455.90. This represents a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,610,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,179 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,734,973,000 after purchasing an additional 205,123 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,993,802,000 after purchasing an additional 706,003 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,466,118 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,036,648,000 after purchasing an additional 273,103 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.